Differential lock.



G. W. MILLER. DIFFERENTIAL L0 CK. APPLICATION FILED mm2?. 1914.

Patented June 15, 1,915.'

WITNEssEs zaini citizen of the United States, and residing in thefollowing is a specification.

driving' axles. are used, the breakage of one of the axles renders the differential inoperative to -drive the V'other axle and the broken axle must be replaced rbefore -the vehicle can travelI under its ownpower..

This is a very frequent cause of delay and inconvenience. Also where one of the vvehicle driving wheels sinks into a mud hole, j

when power is applied this wheel spins .and

little or no rotative Jower isapplied to Vthe other driving wheel so that the vehicle must be dragged or pried out of the diiiicultv Again on a slippery 0r laterally inclined road surface, one wheel vmay be running faster than the other wheel, resulting in lateral skidding.

The object of my invention is to overcome' these'diliiculties, which object I etl'ect by providing means whereby, when necessary, the two driving axles may be lool-red to- Oether or to a common member whereby said C u n axles may be rotated inunison.

Intheaccompanying drawings, which are intended merely to illstrate Athe principles of my invention and not to limit;V the scope of the same. to the construction shown, vFig- 'sis ure l is a to-p plan view of a floating axle dil'erent-ial, shown partly in section, having my invention applied thereto; Fig.. 2 is a view of the -inner end of the rightv hand axle in Fig. l, and Fig. 3 is a similar view of the left hand axle.

The following is a detailed description of the drawings.

A, represents a pinion mounted on the end of the driving shaft, not shown, and beveled to mesh with the largev beveled gear B on the face of which is mounted the casing C preferablymade in vtwo parts held together as by the bolts l.

' D are the usual driving pinions mounted radially Vin the casing C and meshing with the beveledgears L and E of the driving axles F and' F". The axial bore of the gear Sp'ecifieatonpf Letters Patent.

'of the gear Eisenlar 4 ylt? atent l is squared to receive the inner.squarediend of Ithe axle F which lextends freely thrnngh f edfl'iine'ilj, 1915;" .Applicationaieaiuae 27,1914. semaineM7565;y

the axial opening ofjjthe'largegearfl5. .The i.

inner iacej otthe gear-lA `isprovidedwith a clutch member The sqnareg axial b01e d so that the squaredv sleeve G may ireI slide therein, said sleeve having in turn a squared ybore to receive the vsquared end of the axle F.. The outer end of the sleeve G extends without? the casing and vis there. provided with a cir cumierential yoke groove 3 to receive the yoke '-.L of the operating lever 5. The inner end of the sleeve Gisprovided with a clutch member 6 which is adapted to engagev the-v .clutch' member 2 when` the sleeve G is slidq inwardly toward the It is evident thaty bymovingthe' 'sleeve inwardly, so that the clutch members 2 and 6 interlock, the 4two axlesl F and. F are. locked together jand lwill'be rotatedin uni' son, so that where one of the axles is broken, rotation may be imparted to theI sound axle to propel the car; or where one of the wheels. tends to spin in a mnd hole, both wheels may" be forced to rotate at the same rate,v or where a slippery or laterally sloping roadv surface avoided or checked.y It' is evident fromv thevforegoing that av large proportion of the accidents land delays lattending the Aoperation of lpower;driven vehicles may beavoided bythe use of-`1ny -invention 'stantly mesh with both. of the latter, a pair offloatingshaft's havingtheir'inner ends inserted into the bores ci said beveled gears and rotating in unison therewith, a fixed" clutch. member mounted on the inner 'end of one of said. shafts. a sliding clutch member, movable vlon ;itudinally independent'. ofitsf shaft `and the corresponding beveled vgear,. mounted on the inner end et the other. shaft,' and means without said casing Afor movingy said sliding clutch member into engager-nent with saidiixed clutch memheigwhereby said shafts are locked togetheigfor the purpose described.

2. In a differential Vfor a vehicle, the coln- 'bination ofv a power-driven rotary.` easing,

a pair of opposing beveled gears in said casing, beveleddriving pinions mounted radially 'in said casing'and interposed between said gears to constantly mesh With both of the latter, a driven shaft having its inner endinserted in the bore of one of said gears and rotating therewith,.` a clutchl member rigidly mounted on the .inner end of said' shaft, a clutch mei'nber inserted in the bore oi"1 the other gear toslide therein' and rotate therewith, a second driven shaft -having its ii'iner end inserted lin said! second clutch member and rotating therewith, and means vWithout said casing for moving said seoyond 15 clutch member at Will'into engagement with said irst clutch member vwhereby said shafts may 'be looked together to rotateinjunison, forthe purposes described. Signed'at Pittsburgh, 'Pennawy day of June1914.

GEORGE' .W4 MILLER. t' Witnesses:

, EDWARD A.'LAWRENCE,

JOHN MCKELVIE'.

this 19th '.20 

